But Liana had asked her to be her maid of honor immediately, and Ari had wrapped her in a huge hug, and there hadn’t been anything to do but celebrate and make Liana swear that she wouldn’t choose a bridesmaid color that looked hideous on her.
Ari’s phone buzzed with a text, and she looked down and smiled.Speak of the devil.
Liana:Which Sunday in August do you think sounds best for the wedding?
Liana:Wait, the first one is my grandma’s bday
Liana:I wonder if she’d mind
Liana:ALSO how vital do we think a sushi bar is
Ari sighed and wrote back.Any day in August will be perfect, and no, your grandmother will not care.
Ari:Doesn’t Gideon hate sushi?
Liana:With a passion.
Ari:Skip the sushi.
She put down her phone, only for it to immediately buzz again.
Liana:OMG guess what
Liana:Akiva’s having Judah check his August schedule
Liana:I know he’s not your fave but you know I have to have him, right
Liana:Don’t kill me
She groaned and slipped her phone back in her bag. It was going to be a long eight months.
Chapter Seven
“Judah?” A pair of fingers snapped in Judah’s face, and he blinked as he looked up at Lev’s frown. “I know you’re anxious to get back to the album, but we gotta do this. You still have an hour before you meet up with Dov.”
Judah schooled himself back into focus. Lev was mostly right about where his mind was, but he’dalsoreceived an advance copy of theNotedarticle, and he was still cringing at the idea of it going out into the world, especially with its admittedly clever but wildly embarrassing headline:EIN KLEIN HOTMUSIC: GET TO KNOW THE SEXY JEWISH VIRAL SENSATION.
He’d hoped like hell that his singlehood wouldn’t be discussed to the same painstaking degree it had been at their meeting, but if anything, it was worse. It was simultaneously flattering and brutal, and he prayed to God no one saw it.
Lev, of course, had been thrilled and delighted by it, but even he was overwhelmed by the demand that started to flow in onceNotedposted a little teaser. They’d even included one of the photos from the shoot—an artsy black-and-white shot of him looking off into the distance, arm wrapped around his guitar, his kippah a dark shadow in his hair. The whole thing was awkward and silly and getting him way more attention than he was interested in.
Plus, it had also meant various members of his team asking about his next album, and it was making him antsy.
“How do you feel about performing on a kosher cruise?”
“If I hate it, I’m trapped at sea for a week.”
Lev frowned. “Okay, we’ll put that aside for now. How about a fundraiser?”
“Where is it?”
“Vegas.”
“In the summer? No.” Judah paused. “Wait, what’s it raising money for?”
Lev glanced back at the email. “Stick with no.”
Judah leaned back and pinched the bridge of his nose. Between all the solo travel and the increased crowd size and the incredibly unappealing (though admittedly lucrative) offers, he was starting to dread these scheduling meetings with Lev where he planned out the next six to twelve months of his life. As nice as it was to have so many options, sometimes he missed when it was all weddings and bar mitzvahs—the devils he knew. But now those were exhausting too, full of people approaching him to tell him they saw his videos and wanted to pick his brain about the olden days, or casually trying to book him for events on the spot. Lev had already fielded at least one angry phone call from a woman who swore Judah had promised to do her granddaughter’s wedding when she cornered him during a break.
